We’re Making Our Children Addicts - NAFDAC Justifies Sachet Alcohol Ban
The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has defended the enforcement of the ban on sachet alcohol, warning that easy access to the products is turning Nigerian children into addicts.
Speaking on ARISE Television on Friday, Adeyeye said the agency’s decision was driven by public health concerns, insisting that commercial interests could not be placed above the safety of minors.
“We are making our children addicts,” she said.
According to her, manufacturers were more concerned about profit than the health implications of high-concentration alcohol products being sold in small, easily concealable sachets.
“So it is on their side that they are all about money, not about health. We are about health and good investments… But we cannot sacrifice our children on the altar of trade,” Adeyeye stated.
She stressed that NAFDAC was not banning alcohol entirely, but restricting its sale in small packages that make it easier for underage persons to access and hide.
“We are not banning alcohol. We approve alcohol in different packages. It is only in small packages that we are banning,” she said.
Tracing the policy to 2018, the NAFDAC boss said the agency raised concerns after discovering that some sachet alcohol products contained between 43 and 45 per cent alcohol.
“That can be easily squeezed into the pocket of a primary school, secondary school child,” she said.
Adeyeye explained that an agreement was reached with manufacturers, under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Health, granting them five years to reorganise their businesses and discontinue sachet packaging.
“We all signed that by, after five years, they will not sell alcohol in sachets,” she said.
She disclosed that although the initial moratorium expired on January 31, 2024, enforcement was delayed following interventions from lawmakers and industry stakeholders, which resulted in an additional one-year extension.
“The minister called me and said there had been some discussion, we should give one year moratorium, an extra one year above the five years that we have given before. And that one year expired December 2025,” she said.
Adeyeye said enforcement resumed after a directive from the Senate, despite renewed pressure from manufacturers for further extensions.
“The Senate gave us the order to resume enforcement,” she said.